Week in Review

Awesome:
Bought plane tickets at a great price & reserved a condo for a trip to Hawaii only 2 weeks before we go.

Found out we have enough miles on our credit card to cover the price of all three plane tickets!

Valentines day was wonderful, I discovered how much I love gourmet/imported cheeses with good wine (barnard griffin cabernet - a wonderful $13 splurge) & made some excellent crab cakes.

Tonite we have a date while my parents watch the kids - dinner & then a concert at Western.

After our date is my Sis-in-laws bachelorette party. Woo hoo!

Tomorrow the party continues and Kyle is watching the kids most of the day.

Its supposed to be sunny this weekend.

Annika really loves every vegetable we've given her except Avocado. Meanwhile, Avocado is the only vegetable her brother likes.

So many of my bulbs & flowers are bursting/about to burst into bloom.

Not Awesome
I went to the doctor and found out they want to do surgery as soon as we get back from Hawaii on my ingrown toenail. blech.

Our awesome insurance probably won't cover any of the surgery because we have a $1500 deductible.

Annika stayed up till nearly 10pm twice this week and woke up around 1-3am most nights.

Saben is having a terrible week for potty training. For some reason he keeps going in his pants. I have done the kids laundry 3 times in 5 days just to keep up. He keeps happily quoting the Elmo video "Accidents happen mom". I acted stern about it finally and its only gotten worse since then.

Saben woke Annika up 15 minutes into her nap today & I can't get her back down. She is "helping" me type this post.

I hate buying swimsuits.

Annika just spit up all over my pants.

Birthday Wishes

Things Saben has requested for his birthday:

1) Two pink candles on his cake
2) Gifts - a string of chili pepper lights, a honey bear and a pool table "just a little one"

10 on 10

A fun project started by Rebekah - One photo every hour for ten hours on the tenth day of the month. So here is my Sunday, captured in photos. We were stuck at home all day for various reasons while Kyle was out shooting guns and racing cars at a bachelor party.

ps. ten points if you can guess where we're going on vacation!

February

What have we been up to? Other than puking our brains out? Seriously, if you are in that lovely time of life where you only vomit say .... once every 5 years or so, count yourself lucky. If children are entering the picture anytime soon, you can pretty much count on barfing at least once a year, if not more. (right now we're at 4 times in less than 2 years)

This week we neared the ultimate, with 3 of us all sick at exactly the same time. (2am to be exact) Annika was woken up by the um... commotion, but easily placated by Baby Einstein until Mommy was able to get her back to sleep. She actually got it first, but was pretty much better before it hit the rest of us.

But we're better now and getting ready for a couple of mighty busy weeks. We've got a wedding to be in, flowers to arrange for the wedding and possibly, hopefully, a fun "spur of the moment" vacation to go on. (More on that later, once we've got all our reservations)

Lately we've also been....

Getting ready to crawl....

Doing lots of rainy day art projects.

The last two weekends we went up to the mountains to enjoy some snow. Here's instructions in case you live near Bellingham and want some snow fun of your own.

1) buy a sled for $12.99 at Yaegars. Make sure to buy about 10 ft of rope to tow it with. (loop it)

2) Drive up Mt. Baker Hwy. Stop for cheap gas in Deming, but pack a lunch because the sub shop there is under construction. Continue driving to Glacier. Across the street from the Italian restaurant, directly behind a store who's name I forgot, is a road. Turn onto it.

3) Drive till you reach 6" or more of snow (for us it was only like 1/2 mile) and park.

4) Walk up the road, pulling youngsters in sled. Stop for snowball fights. Be sure to initiate your potty trained son in the fine art of creating "Yellow Snow". Get him so excited about it that he starts telling strangers "Don't eat yellow snow!"

5) When you get tired, turn around and sled back down to the car. Unless you got a big kiddo, Daddy or mommy will want to sled with him.

6) Stop at an espresso stand for an 8oz hot chocolate. Be sure to beat the 4:30pm Baker rush.

7) Drive home & enjoy the peace & quiet while tired kids doze in the back.

Snow running

Sledding

Snowballs! (or Snowchunks?)

Mommy's Favorite Outfits

Annika has so many adorable outfits -especially dresses - to wear right now, I am dreading the day she outgrows everything. I hate putting clothes away that are too small, I always feel so nostalgic, especially when the 0-3mos stuff goes. But on the other hand I love pulling out all the new sized stuff and getting to wear things for the first time.

So if you see us out and about, and Annika is completely overdressed for the occaision, its because I am trying to squeeze every last day out of her gorgeous little dresses. Here's a few favorites I've managed to get pictures of, but there are plenty more to come:

Brown dress from Auntie Shauna (there's better pics, but this one amuses me. Artistically, the contrast of hairy arms with a dainty dress really says something...about something.)

Technically she's outgrown this one, but I squeezed her into it one last time to get a photo. It was from Jon & Vicky. Not the bow though, mommy just thought she should have one bow picture since they never stay on more than a couple minutes.

Mommy picked out this dress last summer when she was pregnant and it is still my favorite ever. I was hoping it would fit for easter....

More from photo shoot "White Balloon, Green Dress". I think she has this modeling thing nailed.

(I know what you're thinking....what mommy blogger doesn't think their daughter should be a model. But come on, look at that pout and the delicate way she's holding the balloon. Natural talent, you can't fake that.)

Have a heart

If you are really serious about your carbon footprint, click here.

It is the least you can do to save our planet and I am happy to help you fulfill your carbon offset needs if you don't want to clutter your own yard.

Help!

There is something that has bothered me for quite some time. It is the way that mascara either

1) Smudges below your eyes during the day, but washes off easily at night
2) Does not smudge, but when you wash, it comes off your eyelashes and sticks like a bugger to the skin below your eyes

Please tell me you've found this happy alternative:
1) Does not smudge, but washes off easily with water

I don't care if its waterproof as long as it comes off your skin easily after crying, bathing, etc.
If you have found this magic mascara, please tell me the brand, type, etc. Be specific because I would hate to end up with the "Extended Lashes Extra Moisturizing Maybelline"when you meant "Conditioning Long Lash Maybelline"

Is there anyone I missed who has picture messaging on their phone and would like to see a picture of Saben's first "full" poop in his potty? Just let me know and I'll send it to you!

Mommy Bloggers

Fun article on Mommy Bloggers by my favorite parenting magazine, Wondertime.

Not to get all controversial, but....

"I'd like to see a women's bible study done on how to be like Moses."

Abe's idea after we were discussing the pervasive nature of the "Proverbs 31 woman" in studies aimed at women.

Head problems

Back in December one day, Kyle goes "Hey Kari, what is this huge lump on Annika's head?" (my husband is prone to vast exageration) I went and looked at it and told him it was just the way her head was. Then the next day I was looking more closely and realized one side of her skull was definitely bumpier than the other side.


I figured it was nothing, but took her in to the doctor just in case. He thought it looked odd too - we both agreed that if the lump had been on both sides of her head, it would seem normal, but it was more pronounced on just one side. So he ordered a CAT scan a week later, just in case. That week was not much fun at all.


We arrived for the scan and she was asleep in the carseat. The technician decided to try and do it in the carseat and said something that amazed me "We've never tried doing an infant in a carseat before, what a great idea" DUH. So she slept through the entire thing and I managed to only briefly tear up as I watched them manuver her tiny little body into the huge alien spaceship thing they use to scan people's heads.

Then we waited - they said they would call immediately if they found anything awful, so that day was sort of a nightmare. I finally talked to our doctor 5 days later (it was over a weekend) and he said it looked fine, but he'd send it to a specialist just in case.

Finally we heard back last week and got this beautiful picture of her noggin. Apparently she does have a funny lopsided head, which is "not normal" but "not terribly unusual" either. There should be no lasting consequences and it should be hidden once her hair grows in. But we're still keeping an eye on it just in case the growth plates close too soon, which is unlikely.

So that's the story, mostly I just wanted to post the cool picture of her head. And record it so I can remind Annika when she's 16 that shaving her hair off is probably not going to be an attractive symbol of rebellion.

How Annika Eats

Eyes spot spoon, mouth opens, hand reaches
Grab - give me the spoon!
Spoon wrenched from mommy, shoved in general direction of mouth
Rice cereal on face, eyebrows, spoon finally reaches the gaping hole
Sideways, upside down, cereal in, cereal out
Spoon is sucked, chewed, mangled
cereal is swallowed, thrust out in clumps and slides out stealthily on a river of drool
Suddenly its over, the cereal has been dispersed and the spoon is quickly tossed to the floor
Mommy reaches for it in slow motion...noooooooo....
it hits the floor, bend over, wipe clean, wipe baby, baby cries for more, start second bite
while noticing burning dinner on stove, whining toddler and husband home, ready for a hug

so many random things...

Oh how I've missed the sun this winter, and how glorious it was today to go running along our beautiful waterfront. Even if it is freezing, the sun made today wonderful.

Speaking of running... I have finally started up again after a long pregnancy break. Our friend Abe volunteered to sit at our house for an hour twice a week while he's in school so that I can go running while the kids nap. This is the most amazing, life changing thing ever and he's officially near the top of my "favorite guy who's not my husband" list. I'm managing 3-4 runs a week and it feels so wonderful.

I also can't believe I've never mentioned the other life-saver around here - my mom - who comes up every week to watch the kids for me. She's done this for almost three years now, ever since Saben was born. I love getting groceries without the kids, getting another run in (for the two weeks I've been doing it) and most of all it is fun to see her & Saben have such a great relationship. We almost always go out to lunch and its so nice to catch up, have some company and get some advice & encouragement from someone "experienced".

The other day, Saben & Kyle went on a bike ride while I was nursing Annika. Apparently he accidentally crashed - twisted the handle bars & fell off his glider bike. He started laughing, yelled "I crashed!", got back on and then purposely crashed several more times. He had just watched the crash segment on a Mt. Bike video that morning and I guess it looked pretty cool to him.

Around here, I only have energy to keep up with 4 out of the 5 things I like to do. If I am exercising, eating healthy, playing with the kids & keeping the house clean - I am not spending any time with my friends. If I am spending time with friends than usually my house is a mess. It is so hard to balance everything, I always joke I'd have to work hard till 10pm every night just to meet my own standards. But I'm slowly learning to at least do everything 75-80% as well as I'd like instead of just letting one thing drop off the map completely.

Bath Contraption

I just looooove the seat for Annika that is in the picture below. Unfortunately it is circa 1985 or something and since that time I believe someone must have deemed them "deadly" because they are no where to be found these days. Now you have to buy blow up seats so the kids don't bonk their heads I guess.

Personally, I don't know how my seat can be so dangerous as long as I stay right there, and it works so well, she loves it!

Annika - almost 6 months

Annika is getting so old and her personality is really starting to shine through! Here are some of the things we've noticed:

• Annika loves to grab at everything. If she is on my lap at the table or being carried around as I do something , she is wriggling & reaching for everything constantly. She is always making me spill something, or knocking things out of my hand.


• In the same vein - annika is always moving & wriggling, constantly curious to try something new.


• Annika loves being carried in the baby bjorn, facing out & looking around at everything. She kicks her legs around and smiles at everyone.


• We put Annika in her highchair for dinner w/ toys on the tray and she loves to hit with them & throw them over the edge. She usually has the whole tray cleared in just a couple minutes. She concentrates so hard and breathes all funny as she reaches for everything, as if its her mission to get them all off her tray.


• She still looooves to watch Saben & other kids





• Annika had her first bath in the big tub with Saben tonite and loved it. She was grabbing things out of the water, splashing & kicking her feet all over.


• She is just barely learning to sit, but loves being on her belly, pivoting around reaching for her toys. She sometimes rolls over to toys, travelling several feet from where I put her down. She does not seem to prefer any type of toy over any others. No reaction to dolls, stuffed animals, etc, except to put them in her mouth like everything else.


• She has a short attention span in the exer-saucer, but will spend a lot of time on her belly if there's lots of different toys for her to find & explore.


• Annika really likes being flipped around, bouncing & being upside down.


• She is quiet, doesn't make many noises & still isn't laughing a ton. But she smiles easily and will laugh if we really work at tickling her.

New Years Eve

First Food

A little late...we fed Annika rice cereal for the first time on December 30th

Ta Da!!!

Now son you're getting bigger
Oh yes its really true
Soon you'll be ready to do something new
So here is your new potty where you go poo
It's where you sit to do what you gotta doo-doo

It's potty time - now get down low
It's potty time - just let it go!
It's potty time - go with the flow
It's potty time - you can do it, I know!

Never again will I doubt such words of wisdom by saying things like this:

"After watching grown men singing in falsetto about pooping and peeing and hearing one full hour of poop and pee talk Saben decided he wanted to sit on Connor's potty chair and Mommy decided she was never ever watching another Elmo video. "

That's right folks, the seemingly impossible was accomplished yesterday with a little help from Elmo.... Saben figured out how to pee in his potty!!!!!

I have been spastically trying to get Saben potty trained for a few months now. By spastically I mean that I give up everytime because he usually wets his underwear & pants 3 times in just a few minutes, I run out of clean underwear, Annika starts screaming and I give up for another month.

He has been completely non-interested, even rebelious about potty training. He hated his big boy underwear & never wanted to try wearing it and he certainly never asked to sit on the potty or told me when he needed to go.

In moments of desperation I have tried most things - Potty books, big boy underwear, bribery, etc. Tuesday I just happened to see the Potty Elmo DVD in the store and decided to spend yet another $10 to see if that would help.

We watched it Tuesday night & then put underwear on Wednesday morning. He wet his undies just a little & I had him go sit on the potty and....low and behold he went. And then stopped and then started again. And then did it again 8 times yesterday. He just sits down and goes. Absolutely amazing.

We went out to Mallards to celebrate. .

It seems like all of Saben's new tricks go this way.... He resists strongly and makes zero progress and then suddenly it just all falls in to place. And now for a huge knock on wood because I am totally freaked out that he's going to regress now that I wrote this

Christmas Day

After a crazy family Christmas Eve (see post below) we had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas day. We usually travel to one of our parent's houses on Christmas day and I'd been thinking it would be nice to start staying home in a few years...but suddenly going to someone else's house where there are plenty of people to cook, clean & help watch your children seems like such an awesome idea. Why on earth would I want to stay home and do all that by myself???? Here's a few last pics from Christmas with my parents.

Papa spending 1 1/2 hours putting together Saben's new toy kitchen

Great Grandpa, Pumpkin (the cat) and lots of goodies

Stockings

Boys playing with cars. (my brother's old hotwheel sets. I looked for something similar EVERYWHERE and could not find one like it for Saben's Christmas present)

Christmas Resolutions

Note to self: Just because your son is finally old enough to remember/enjoy Christmas does NOT mean you need to squeeze in absolutely every single Christmas tradition you ever remember loving as a kid into one single day.


That pretty much sums it up. This was our (my) to do list on Christmas Eve:

1. Make cinnamon rolls

2. Make homemade gourmet Mac & Cheese for dinner

3. Go to a Christmas Eve service

4. Drive around & look at Christmas lights

5. Finish wrapping a few last gifts

6. Leave cookies out for Santa

It doesn't look that bad, but when you start throwing in temper tantrums (saben didn't like my macaroni & cheese) and missed naps, it starts to get crazy. Plus it was a gorgeous day outside and we were all stuck inside doing what my husband deemed "chores". At the end of the day he ponted out how nice it would have been to pack up the family and go take a nice walk in the sun and suddenly I saw the logic in that.

The night culminated in driving to a retirement neighborhood with tons of lights and getting stuck in the line of cars while Annika reached her end & started wailing in the backseat. It took us another 20 minutes just to make our way out of the neighborhood. Of course it had been my insistence that took us to the neighborhood, Kyle had suggested we head home and I'd said "just one last place....." Now imagine me gamely singing Christmas carols all by myself the whole time, while annika is screaming hoarsly in the back seat. sigh.

So...new years resolution - be flexible next Christmas. Its funny how you can grow up reading, hearing & watching scenarios like this your whole life and you always think, oh, I'll never do that! Then suddenly there you are, the rushed, harried, crazy Christmas Mom who is driving her family nuts and forgetting what Christmas is really about.